Mission House Opened

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 3

Mission House Opened

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Dec. 5. After nearly four years of restoration work the W a i m a t e Mission House, built in 1832, was opened to the public by the Historic Places Trust yesterday. The house is one of three built shortly after the founding of the first inland mission station in New Zealand in 1830. It was built by George Clarke. At the ceremony yesterday Mr E. B. Clarke, of Milford, a grandson of George Clarke, turned the key in the lock and declared the house open. The deputy chairman of the Historic Places Trust, Professor J. C. Beaglehole, said the trust had to be prepared to spend money when it took 'o: such a restoration project.

“We need to preserve visible evidence of our early history for our children and our children’s children,” he said. “We have destroyed so much and are destroying so much.” Professor Beaglehole said that with the Waimate Mission House the trust had done more than preserve. It had restored. When the trust took over any object the question of restoration arose.

“Should we put the building in good repair or leave it as it is? Do you turn a house into a museum or have some-

one live in it?” asked Professor Beaglehole. “I don’t think there is any final answer to this question.” Mr F. Barrett, Bay of Islands representative on the Northland branch of the trust, said the house represented the very beginning of New Zealand and of Government in New Zealand. The site at Waimate North was chosen by the Rev. Samuel Marsden during a visit to New Zealand in 1830. The Church Missionary Society of London established a farm there and the first inland mission station in the country.